Before automation, it was common to form patties of a material such as ground beef by hand. It is well known, however, that, while effective for the intended purpose, this technique had numerous drawbacks including the unsanitary conditions of excess human contact with the meat product, the inefficiencies clearly inherent in the hand-forming process, the lack of uniformity in terms of the weight of the patties so formed, and a lower level of quality due to the inexact size and shape of the patties. However, many of these deficiencies were more acceptable in earlier times.
In more recent years, there has been a burgeoning need for a successful means for automating the production of patties. This is evident from the widespread proliferation of fast food franchises which sell massive numbers of frozen patties on a daily basis. In order to serve this need, it has been common to commercially utilize a variety of different machines from various equipment manufacturers.
Despite the availability of such machines, it is recognized that drawbacks exist in the automation of the patty making process. These range from the lack of a truly effective ram-casting-mold plate configuration and arrangement to the absence of an acceptably coordinated knockout assembly for discharging patties from the machine. Still additionally, there has been considerable room for improvement in the paper feed and hydraulic systems utilized in such equipment.
The present invention is directed to overcoming one or more of the foregoing problems and accomplishing one or more of the resulting objects.